'She looked like a monster': Daughters of Lorraine McCreary and Denise DuBarry who died after fungal infection reveal horrific experiences
LOS ANGELES< CALIFORNIA: Two daughters, who lost their mothers to fatal fungal infections, have shared their horrific experiences in order to spread awareness of the "urgent threat" of the pathogens. Sharon McCreary, 61, revealed that her 86-year-old mother Lorraine had a deadly stroke last summer as a result of contracting the microscopic yeast strain Candida auris. She is thought to have contracted the illness in a hospital, where the fungus has grown more common, like an increasing number of Americans each year.
Since first appearing in the US in 2016, the fungus has been found in more than half of the states and is progressively becoming drug-resistant. Former actress Denise DuBarry, 61, lost her life after contracting the uncommon fungal illness mucormycosis. The infection takes place after inhaling mucor mold spores from the air that are present in the dirt, plants, and rotting fruit and veggies. Once inhaled, the fungus can infect the sinuses, where it can then travel to the brain and eyes.
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Who was Lorraine McCreary?
Lorrie, who spent her childhood in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, married Jack McCreary and immediately began a family after arriving in Willow Grove. She worked in the vehicle sales industry for a large portion of her career, both in the Philadelphia region and in St Petersburg, Florida, where she gave outstanding customer service at Crown Eurocars until her retirement. She also spent years succeeding in a side sales job at Littman Jewelers, where she built a loyal client base and frequently outsold full-time staff, as per the Legacy website.
How did Lorraine die?
Lorraine became infected with Candida auris when she was transferred to a rehab facility at Baycare St Anthony's Hospital in St Petersburg, Florida. The infection set off a series of events that proved lethal for Lorrie, resulting in sepsis, kidney failure, and, ultimately, a fatal stroke.
McCreary informed DailyMail that if her mother Lorrie had not caught C auris, she would not have died in June 2022. Even with elevated blood pressure and arthritis, Lorrie was in generally good health for her age. She had to be saved by the firemen after falling over twice in one day at her house. Lorrie collapsed again the following day. On June 10, 2022, her nurse drove her to Baycare St Anthony's Hospital in St Petersburg, Florida. Lorrie kept sliding down because she had a fever, aspiration pneumonia, and was weak and dizzy in the hospital.
'It was like a domino effect for her'
Lorrie at first appeared to be doing well. After a week, the medical staff phoned McCreary to inform her that her mother was getting better and would be transferred to the recovery facility. However, McCreary received another message two and a half days later informing her that she had been admitted to the hospital again. The nurse informed McCreary that during regular bloodwork, they had discovered that her mother had tested positive for C auris. "I had never heard of C auris. I immediately went online to look it up and the Centers for Disease Control have a whole webpage about it," stated the daughter. "I read it and I looked at my husband and I said, 'This kills 50 percent of the people who get it.' I just had this dread, and it was rightfully placed dread. My mom just couldn't get well. It was like a domino effect for her. The Candida auris was preventing her from getting over the other things she had going on."
Lorrie also had sepsis
The C auris also caused Lorrie to acquire sepsis. The yeast can spread infection if it enters the bloodstream. The body may respond to this by developing sepsis, which can be fatal. Sepsis happens when chemicals released in the bloodstream to combat an illness cause body-wide inflammation. Multiple organ systems may become damaged and shut down as a result of this. Breathing difficulty, low blood pressure, an elevated pulse rate, and mental confusion are all signs of sepsis. McCreary stated, "It's hard to know since she had so much going on, she still had a fever from the initial lung infection, which developed into sepsis. She stopped answering her phone... she seemed to be having some cognitive decline. It was all very different from any previous experience or situation we had with her."
'This was not the feisty, sharp mom I was used to'
The daughter further went on to say she doesn't know if it was only the stress on her body of having this fungal infection and her respiratory situation. Her mother eventually began to experience kidney damage. "It was a cascade of things that I just don't think should have happened or wouldn't have happened if she hadn't had this major stressor on her body, and then the sepsis."
According to the daughter, Lorrie had previously been hospitalized, but she typically just complained, "I want to go home, I hate this place, the food is terrible." McCreary stated, "She wasn't really doing that. I would ask her, 'What treatment did you get today?', and she couldn't tell me. She couldn't keep track of the days and she didn't remember our last conversation a few days before. That was very disturbing to me... I knew something was different. This was not the feisty, sharp mom I was used to."
'I think this is going to kill her'
Ten days before Lorrie died, her daughter's husband asked her, "What's the matter?" as soon as she hung up the phone with the hospital. She said, "I'm scared because I don't think she's gonna come home... I think this is going to kill her."
McCreary boarded a plane five weeks after undergoing complete knee replacement surgery so she could spend her mother's final six hours by her side. "It was very intimidating in the hospital. Mom was in the ICU, and the first thing they said at the door was, 'You have to put on full PPE before you enter this room, and before you exit this room, you have to remove all the PPE.' They had a special trash can, and you had to wash your hands. It was a really strict protocol and they said, 'That fungus sticks to everything.'"
Just days later, Lorrie died of a stroke and her daughter said, "What I was told was that from the chronic acute inflammation that was aggravated by the Candida auris, [a stroke] is also a thing that can happen." She added, "I just firmly believe if she hadn't had the fungal infection, she would have survived this. There was no reason she shouldn't have survived what she went to the hospital for."
Who was Denise DuBarry?
Denise DuBarry, who was born in Killeen, Texas, was an actress and producer, best known for the 1979 Academy Award-winning movie 'Being There', 'Black Sheep Squadron' (1976), and 'Monster in the Closet' (1986). The actress was also well known for her roles on 'CHiPs', 'The Love Boat', 'Days of Our Lives', and 'Charlie's Angels'. She was previously married to William Ferrill Hay, Gary Lockwood, and Connolly Kamornick Oyler. She died on March 23, 2019, in Los Angeles, California, as per IMDB.
Her daughter Samantha Lockwood posted their interview synopsis on Instagram and said, "In our interview, they asked what do you like and respect about your mom and I said “her work ethic” and when they asked what she liked about me, she said “I wish I had Sam’s wit.”
She added, "She was so patient, generous, elegant, gentle, determined… all qualities I seek to embody more everyday. A beautiful thing in relationships is being able to see the beauty in one another without feeling less. We are all made differently and here to inspire one another. She did that for me and still does in her loving memory."
How did Denise DuBarry die?
Denise DuBarry starred in a number of popular TV programs, including 'Charlie's Angels', 'CHiPs', 'Days of Our Lives', and 'The Love Boat' before she tragically caught the rare fungal infection called mucormycosis. However, just as she was starting to get better, her condition quickly deteriorated, prompting doctors to run a battery of tests to determine the reason. She was found to have C auris, a disease that can kill up to half of those it affects. According to doctors, she might have gotten the fungus from oxygen tubes. Direct touch or contaminated surfaces, where it can survive for weeks, are the two main ways in which it spreads from patient to patient. Her daughter Samantha claimed to DailyMail that the infection turned her mother, a once "gorgeous woman" into "a monster." She puffed up from head to toe and gradually lost her vision in each eye.
'She was super healthy'
Before getting ill, the actress was "super healthy." Her daughter who is also an actress, said, "Here's a woman who juices, makes her own ginger turmeric shots. You can't be healthier. She was only out of that hospital [in the rehabilitation unit] for less than 72 hours and came back and tested positive." Her daughter Lockwood, 40, told, "It was pretty horrific situation, to be brutally honest. Having seen my mom in such a state, I cannot even wish it on my worst enemy, what I saw."
'She looked like a monster'
Early in March 2019, DuBarry underwent treatment for a sinus illness at Eisenhower Hospital in California. She was flown to the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles after being moved to the Loma Linda Medical Center. "[The doctors] just told me that she had a sinus infection and that grew to become something worse and worse and worse," said Lockwood. "And apparently she caught it for a couple of weeks and then finally when she was airlifted out, I think she only had a few days left to live. When I spoke to her, I said, 'Mom, you're gonna be okay.' And she goes, 'I don't know, honey."
The daughter explained, "When I saw her, one of her eyes was completely bugged out of her head. She's a gorgeous woman. She looked like a monster. She was swollen with edema, she had tubes coming out of her throat, her tongue was swollen out of her face."
'She went blind'
Lockwood further continued and said, "It's a really frightening disease because I think people think it's so benign, and then all of a sudden, it's so serious that it's eating your brain while you're alive. It's really, really awful. It causes severe swelling."
The actress' daughter continued, "[My mom] had severe swelling all over her body. Her eyes went almost glassy, one eye at a time, and she went blind. It eats the nerve behind your eyeball... Eventually just everything shut down because it attacks and eats your brain."
What is the WHO's stance on the illnesses?
The World Health Organization has expressed concern that the public's health is increasingly being threatened by fungi. The WHO published the first-ever list of fungal pathogens that are dangerous to people in October 2022. Some specialists assert that because of the changing climatic conditions, the fungus is becoming more widespread globally.
A 61-year-old Indian man recently became the first person to contract a fungal illness that is fatal to plants. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fungal infections have already caused 7,000 US deaths in 2021 and 1.5 million deaths globally. In 2019, the CDC identified C auris in particular as an "urgent threat" as it can kill up to 60% of victims.